Dark Star: Abstraction and Cosmos
Curated by Raymond Foye
April 7 ‒ May 10, 2016
Planthouse is pleased to present Dark Star: Abstraction and Cosmos, a group show curated by Raymond Foye featuring the works of Jordan Belson, Tamara Gonzales, Thomas Kovachevich, Brian Lucas, Harry Smith, Charles Stein, Philip Taaffe, and Sally Webster.
From its origins at the turn of the twentieth century, abstract art has looked to the cosmos as a paradigm for a new sense of space. As our knowledge of the cosmos has grown, artists have continued to respond to the increasingly complex information scientists posit, as well as the expanded vision found in telescopic and satellite images. Many of the artists in this show have updated the original tenets of Non-Objectivism to include their experiences of mysticism, yoga, meditation, and psychedelics. In many instances it seems the further out we gaze, the further inward we see, and the play of macro/micro space becomes another topic for reflection.
This exhibition gathers the work of eight artists who explore aspects of cosmos as both subject and metaphor. The exhibition is presided over by historical figures Jordan Belson (1926-2011) and Harry Smith (1923-1991) both noted for their work in experimental film, but important visual artists in their own right. The remaining artists are all actively working today, based in Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Hudson Valley NY, and Oakland CA.
Raymond Foye
(b. Lowell, Mass 1957) is a publisher, editor, writer and curator who has lived in New York's Chelsea Hotel since 1979. He studied film with Stan Brakhage at the Art Institute of Chicago, and attended the San Francisco Art Institute. He worked as an editor at City Lights Books (The Unknown Poe, 1980) and New Directions (Bob Kaufman: The Ancient Rain, 1981). He co-founded Hanuman Books with Francesco Clemente in India in 1986, and together they published fifty books over ten years, including original titles by William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Patti Smith, Bob Dylan, Robert Hunter, Cookie Mueller, Bob Flanagan, Robert Frank, Candy Darling, and others. From 1990-1995 he was a director of exhibitions and publications at Gagosian Gallery, New York. Since 1995 he has independently organized dozens of art exhibitions worldwide, including the first gallery exhibitions of Allen Ginsberg’s photographs, and the art works of Harry Smith. He has contributed essays to publications by the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Guggenheim Museum, the Irish Museum of Modern Art, and the Drawing Center in New York.
